


Dive

by pec



Series: 75 dates [1]
Category: Gintama
Genre: M/M, Not Beta Read, Skydiving, fic meme fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 05:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6458179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pec/pseuds/pec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakamoto plans a date, Nobunobu ends up experiencing much more than skydiving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dive

**Author's Note:**

> this is a fill to a fic meme from over at [tumblr](http://pecwrites.tumblr.com/post/142220095495/75-dates-fic-meme). prompt was given by nyatsuma! I had so much fun writing this, thank you~

Nobunobu could not remember the details, but somehow he'd let himself be talked into trying out skydiving. He has often found himself in such unexplainable situations ever since Sakamoto Tatsuma entered his life. 

It was outrageous enough that he had proposed the idea of a date, but to make it a skydiving event of all things. When Nobunobu had expressed his doubt at the suggestion, he had lowered his sunglasses to stare directly and intensely into Nobunobu's eyes.

“These are new times now, Shogun-sama,” he'd said, with a flicker of a smirk on his face. “No more orchestrators, and no more puppets. We're going to make sure we spend the rest of our lives alive.”

If that man put his mind to it, Nobunobu believed, he could even talk him into overthrowing every government in existence and taking over the entire planet. Such was the mysterious nature of this man; layers of inventions over spontaneous schemes. The most problematic part, however, was that Nobunobu would willingly go along with him every single time. 

He sat next to him now, in a miniature plane that they were supposed to jump out from into the open sky.

“Don't worry, Shogun,” he was told by his date, who had grown weirdly fond of the official title and seldom addressed him by his given name. “All you have to do is jump, your instructor will do the rest!”

If only it were that simple. 

He'd never tried something this outrageous and careless before in his life. He had no fear of heights but he did have a fear of falling. Free falling rapidly without any control, until your instructor deemed it necessary to pull out the parachute. He'd seen the demo videos and they'd made him break out in sweat. 

He was sweating now, too, and feeling knots in his stomach, the unpleasant kind. The plane tipped to the side and he squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his palms on his knees

“You all right, Shogun?” asked Tatsuma, craning his neck around since his harness didn't allow much movement, in a voice that completely betrayed his own poor condition. Nobunobu opened his eyes and looked over at him. He was completely pale and trembling ever so slightly. There was a sheen of sweat over his brows and he was gripping a sickness bag tightly in his hands. Nobunobu drew strength from the knowledge that Sakamoto Tatsuma felt just as miserable as he did. 

“You're not going to chicken out now, are you?” asked Tatsuma. Managing to flash a challenging grin even in his present state was commendable. 

“Well, we made it this far,” said Nobunobu, and Tatsuma hummed in agreement. “And I'm not backing out before I see the results of putting on this hideous jumpshoot-”

“-jumpsuit!”

“-come to fruition!” Nobunobu glared down at his brown and yellow ensemble. Then something happened that made him forget all his woes. 

Tatsuma laughed. 

Which was not a rare occurrence, but very unexpected at the moment. 

“That's it. That's the conviction I wanted to see.” Sakamoto Tatsuma's eyes were barely visible behind his shaded goggles, but Nobunobu felt pinned by the gaze nevertheless. 

Nobunobu watched the other's mouth morph into an easy smile and wondered whether this newly announced conviction was his own doing or Tatsuma's. He didn't feel right taking the credit.

“All right, we're up,” said Tatsuma's instructor, and Nobunobu watched them waddle up to the opening of the plane with difficulty. Tatsuma seemed to be slipping and sliding a lot and pushing backwards instead of walking forward. 

He took a deep breath as his own instructor pushed them up the bench. 

“Here we go!” shouted Tatsuma, as the wind knocked his sickness bag out of his grasp. His eyes were impossibly wide as his head whipped around to locate Nobunobu. “You ready?”

The direction of that question should be opposite, thought Nobunobu, and just then, a terrible realization dawned upon him: that he's only ever any brave as long as Tatsuma is around. 

The instructor began a countdown and Nobunobu felt a crazy impulse to reach out for Tatsuma. 

“See you on the other side-”

His sentence erupted into an earsplitting shriek as he and his instructor jumped off the plane. Nobunobu and his own instructor were on their feet, and he leaned forward on the door to watch a quickly descending Tatsuma, his loud voice no longer reaching them. 

He wasn't scared of jumping, he was only anxious of the rapidly increasing distance between himself and Tatsuma. 

So he jumped after him. 

He felt himself fall, felt suspended in air, and then he was flying.

There was a hush, no sound. The horizon was spread all around him. The sun felt closer than he had ever felt it before. Shades of light like he'd never seen before. 

All his life, he though he had the best life had to offer, he believed he had sat on the highest throne and had seen the very top. Ah, how wrong he'd been. Oh, what a fool he was. 

He would have smiled at the irony had the air pressure allowed it. For now, he just concentrated on breathing, basking, as he descended. 

(Close to the ground, he thought he heard someone scream his name.)

As soon as he landed and was unhooked from his gear, his eyes sought out Tatsuma. He followed the sounds of belching nearby and saw him on all fours few meters away, dry heaving. By the time Nobunobu reached him, he was on his feet, eyes bare and smile catching. 

“So. How do you feel?” he asked with an air of a man who had all the answers. And maybe he did. 

When Nobunobu replied, his voice came out shaky and broken. 

“Alive.” 

~*~


End file.
